Ukraine's cbank sells dlrs at 5.0 hryvnias

Ukraine`s central bank intervened on the interbank market

Ukraine`s central bank intervened on the interbank market on Tuesday, selling dollars at 5.0 hryvnias which helped strengthen the currency, dealers said, according to Reuters.

The central bank sold dollars at the same price for three days running last week after the hryvnia hit an all time low of 5.9/$.

Dealers said the hryvnia strengthened within a newly widened band of 4.554-5.346 to the dollar to about 5.0/$.

They also said demand for the dollar fell due to some measures set out by the bank on Monday to shore up the banking system which were not clear.

"Some of the points of that decision to do with currency were not totally understandable, so it was better to wait for a clarification from the central bank," one dealer said.

Amongst the various measures, the central bank said it would sanction any banks which would want to pay early for imports as a way of getting cash out of the country.

Data from the central bank showed that total refinancing for banks from the beginning of the month to Oct. 13 stood at 10,9 billion hryvnia ($2.23 billion), almost double the amount for the whole month of September.

The bank also said its foreign exchange reserves, at $37.5 billion covers 3.7 months of imports.

"This demonstrates solid reserves that are enough to smooth out currency fluctuations on the currency market," the bank said in a statement.